Falling into a Family
by beatlechicksteph
Summary: Tony crash lands in Tennessee after The Mandarin's attack on his home. As he's trudging through the snow, he meets a woman and her kids.


**One shot written for Marvelously Magical Bingo 2018, my square was Arc Reactor.**

**CRASH**

Tony cringed as he bounced across the snow crested ground as his suit crash landed him. He had been unconscious up until about a minute ago when the suit began a rapid decent into the ground. After a minute, he was able to regain his composure and sit up. His suit was definitely on the fritz.

"JARVIS," he managed to croak out. "Where am I?"

"Tennessee, sir," JARVIS replied.

"What the hell am I doing in Tennessee?" Tony asked.

"When you were researching the Mandarin, you had these coordinates programmed into the computer. When your home was attacked, the suit brought you to safety to the last location you were searching."

"Got it. Where's the nearest town?"

"About five miles west."

Tony looked around, and sighed. There was a good foot of snow on the ground, and he was definitely not dressed for the snow. He stood up, took his suit off, and managed to create a makeshift rope out of what he could find around him. And then he set out to try and trudge his way through the snow to town.

He had been walking about twenty minutes when he was pretty sure the cold was already going to his head. If that was a thing. He was watching as a woman holding the hands of two small children was walking toward him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. And then when he opened them he almost breathed a sigh of relief to see that they were still walking toward him.

He decided it would be nicer if he would just walk over to her and meet her half way.

"Hello," he greeted, lifting his hand up in greeting.

"Hullo," the woman greeted, her voice surprising him. He was not expecting a British accent in rural Tennessee. "Are you alright? We were outside admiring the clear night and the stars when we saw you come shooting across the sky and crash land. My son instantly recognized you as Iron Man and insisted we come and make sure you're okay."

"You could tell I was Iron Mas as I streaked across the sky?" Tony asked.

"You were not very high by the time you crossed over our home," the woman stated. "And your suit is very recognizable."

"I'll give you that. You live close by here?" he asked

"Just up here," she said. "Are you alright?"

He found himself shaking his head. "No, I'm not. My home in Los Angeles was attacked earlier today, and my suit decided to bring me all the way out here to save me from it. My suit is not functioning properly. And did you know it's cold out here? Because I was in LA just a few hours ago, and I am not dressed for snow."

The woman laughed. "Yes, I'm very aware of the snow."

"We built a snowman!" the little boy said from beside the woman.

"A giant snowman! Mummy used her—" the little girl piped in.

"Imagination," the woman cut in. "Mummy used her imagination."

Tony raised his eyebrow. That was not what that little girl was going to say, but he didn't have the energy to try and figure out what she was hiding. He was too cold for that.

"Mr. Stark, would you like to come to our house and warm up and maybe call for help?" the woman continued on.

"Yes, please. I'm pretty sure I've lost a toe or two to frostbite at this point."

The kids laughed at him, and he found himself laughing right along with them. He was not a kid person by definition, but he couldn't help but feel endeared to these children who had been outside on a cold night to investigate space.

"Alright, we live just over here," the woman said, leading the way back the way she and the children had appeared.

They began trudging through the snow, and Tony couldn't help but count the minutes. The suit was growing very heavy.

"So," he said, to distract him from the lead weight he was dragging behind himself. "You have me at a disadvantage. You know my name, but I don't know yours."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I have completely forgotten my manners," she said with a laugh. "I'm Hermione."

"I'm Hugo!" the little boy piped up from beside him.

"And I'm Rose!" the girl offered from beside her mother.

"It's nice to meet you all," Tony said. They turned down a driveway and started heading up to the warmly lit house, generously decorated with Christmas lights. "Wow." He said when he saw the house.

"Yeah," she said. "I may have gone a little overboard with the decorating this year. But these kids are hard to say no to."

Tony laughed. "Yeah, I've known them for two minutes and I get that vibe. Your husband won't be upset that you're bringing a strange man you found on the side of the road home, will he?"

Hermione didn't say anything, as they continued up the driveway, but Hugo had no problem filling the silence.

"Daddy doesn't love us anymore, he loves Lavender," he said.

"Hugo," Hermione admonished.

"It's true, though, mummy," Rose said.

"Your father still loves you," Hermione said. "So, it's not true."

"But daddy said so," Hugo said. "He told us before—"

"Your father didn't mean it," Hermione cut him off. "We've talked about it several times."

"Then why doesn't he visit us?" Rose asked.

"Because," Hermione started. "I don't know. But one day he'll realize that he's made a huge mistake and will regret that he's missed your childhood and want to see you again."

Tony glanced over at Hermione and watched as she swiped tears from under her eyes. And he immediately regretted asking her about her husband. It was more his nosiness to see if this beautiful woman were single.

They approached the house, and Hermione let them inside, and the kids immediately ran inside, leaving a trail of winter clothing behind them.

Tony deposited the suit next to the door, and breathed a sigh of relief after he had relieved himself of the heavy load. He turned to see Hermione gathering up the coats and mittens and moving toward the coat rack.

"Listen, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to start anything out there. Honestly, I find you very attractive, and I was just fishing to see if your husband was in the picture."

Hermione laughed. "Well, I'm very flattered that I was able to catch your eye on the dark road while you were freezing to death. And it's fine. Their father is a sore subject."

"If it makes you feel better, in good light, without being bundled up behind a scarf and large coat, while I'm defrosting, I still find you attractive."

She shook her head and laughed. "You're incorrigible."

"That's my middle name," Tony said, moving further into the house. "Is their father in England? That's where you're from, right?"

Hermione sighed and turned toward him. "And nosy, too," she said. "Yes, he's in London. With his girlfriend. Because after two years he still won't divorce me because "Weasley's don't divorce.""

"Wow," Tony said, sitting down on the couch. "What a fucker."

"Language, Mr. Stark," Hermione admonished, sitting beside him. "There are little ears everywhere. And I don't need them coming up with a new name to call their father."

"How old are they?" he asked.

"Six and four," Hermione answered.

"How old were they when their father left?"

"Two and four. Hugo barely remembers his father being around."

"That is terrible," Tony said. "He just decided being responsible for his family was too much? I mean, forgive me for overstepping, but that seems to be the picture your children were painting."

Hermione sighed, bringing her feet up under her. "I don't know how much I should share, you're a stranger, and I don't want to burden you with my problems. I can get you a phone and you can call—"

"You're not burdening me," Tony interrupted. "Not at all. You know who burdened me? The asshole who blew up my house. This is a welcome distraction from that. I want to hear your problems, because they are a hell of a lot easier to deal with than my own. I may be able to offer some comfort. Or male insight. Because I don't know if you've heard, I've been known to be a bit of a playboy."

Hermione shook her head. "I'm sorry your house got blown up."

"Don't be. Now, tell me about your ex and how he could just abandon those adorable children."

"Now you're just being flattering. I'm not going to sleep with you, Mr. Stark," Hermione said, smirking.

Tony barked out a laugh. "That's not why I'm saying the things I'm saying. I wasn't trying to get into your pants. Not tonight anyway," he added with his own smirk.

She shook her head. "Incorrigible," she said.

"Middle name."

They laughed together.

"Ron and I were childhood sweethearts, best friends since we were eleven, began dating when we were seventeen, married by the time we were twenty. Things seemed okay, we had children young, but we were happy. Then one day two years ago, I came home early from work one day to find him, in flagrante with his girlfriend from our sixth year in school, Lavender. They had reconnected and apparently she had opened his eyes. How could he be in love and married to a woman like me? Damaged. Ugly. Frigid. My body not back to what it was before we had children. In fact, speaking of the children, they were really cramping his style, what were we thinking having them? Oh, and while he had me there, maybe we should just go our separate ways. And then he did. He left. With her. Well, until he decided he wanted the flat. And so he kicked us out. We lived with my best friend and his wife for a while until we got this amazing offer to relocate here, and I jumped at it."

Tony looked at her, at a loss for words. How could a man do that to his wife and mother of his children. To his children. He may not have had the best childhood with the most loving parents, he at least had his parents in his life.

"I stand by what I said earlier. He's a fucker. What a fucking loser," he said. "And he won't divorce you? After insulting you and abandoning you?"

She shook her head. "No because if he were to divorce me, he would be forced to give me support for the children. Or may be forced to see the children. God forbid Lavender even see the spawn of her lover and her rival."

Tony shook his head. "Do you need a lawyer? Because I will get you the best lawyer possible. It's the least I can do to pay you back for your hospitality."

Hermione shook her head. "I've let you in, and I'm going to let you use my phone. I don't think paying for a good lawyer would be equivalent to that."

"Well, about that," Tony said. "I may need a little more than that," he said.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, so I need to fix my suit before I go anywhere. I need to be ready to move. My house is destroyed. I just need to get my suit up and talk to my virtual assistant and see where I can go from there. I mean, if you have tools and stuff for me to use. And I don't want to impose on your life and family…"

"Iron Man!" Hugo interrupted as he ran into the room. He was carrying a piece of paper with him. "I drawed you a picture!"

He walked right up to Tony and caught him off guard, as he scrambled up into his lap. Tony quickly reached out and help him climb up and get stabilized. Once the little boy was steady in his lap, he looked down at him. He had red hair, and brown eyes. He was looking up with him with a huge grin on his face. He handed Tony the picture, and it made his cynical heart warm. All thoughts of the Mandarin and finding him momentarily forgotten. The picture had four stick figures standing in a line. Two small ones with red-hair, one tall one with curly brown hair, and then one red and yellow one, obviously him in his suit. They were just standing there on the paper, but what got him was Hugo had drawn him standing between the two children, and they were holding his hands.

"You can stay here," Hermione murmured from beside him on the couch. "You can stay as long as you need. I have tools and whatever you need. But I have to tell you something, before. I'm not exactly as I seem."

"What does that mean?" he asked, confused.

"Mummy's a witch!" Hugo said. "She can do magic! And she says one day I'll be able to do magic, too! But only when I'm older and I go to magic school!"

Tony turned toward Hermione. "What?"

"A witch, I can do magic, I was born this way, and I promise I won't do magic on you, but I do work from home, so you're bound to encounter something weird, and I just wanted to be open with you."

"Okay," Tony said. "Witch I can deal with. You seem normal enough."

"Wanna come see my room, Iron Man?" Hugo asked.

"Of course," he said, helping Hugo to his feet, and allowing him to take him by his hand and lead him where he needed to go. He was going to like it here, he could already tell.

~TS~

Tony laughed as he ducked behind a tree to avoid being hit with a snow ball. He was in the backyard playing with the children. Hermione was working, and he was tired of working, so he asked Hugo and Rose if they wanted to bundle up and have a snowball fight. Of course they couldn't refuse. And he soon found himself two against one in a snowball fight.

He quickly gathered up some snow in his hands and formed a loose ball, ran out from behind the tree and got Rose in the back. "Hey!" she cried out. He laughed and ducked behind the tree as she bent down and gathered more snow. He was so focused on her that he didn't see Hugo coming up behind him and nailing him on the back of his head. He could feel the cold snow falling down the neck of his jacket.

He had been at the Granger-Weasley house for about a week, but it felt like he had always been there. Hermione and the kids had welcomed him into their family almost seamlessly, and he didn't ever want to leave. He had immediately fallen in love with the kids. They were on Christmas Break, but usually Rose was in school full time, and Hugo part time, and Hermione explained that she was used to having a little time to get some of her work done. So, Tony made sure to take the kids out and entertain them while she got some work done. And then more he got to know the kids, the more they wormed themselves into his cold heart.

It helped that their mother was probably one of the best people he had ever met. She was kind, and beautiful, and she took no nonsense. And every time they spent time together, he couldn't help but repeat what she had told him her husband had told her when he left, and think that he was completely wrong. She was beautiful, and he thought her body was amazing. They would spend a couple hours after the kids went to bed talking. He learned all about her childhood growing up fighting in a wizarding world, he told her about his capture and how he became Iron Man. They bonded over their respective nightmares of being tortured and almost dying. And after they parted for the night, he would have to tell his cock to stand down.

The worst part was, he was pretty sure he was falling for the curly haired mom. But it was complicated. He had to stop The Mandarin, he couldn't stay here. And there were kids involved. This was much different than any other woman he had been with. And after fucking up with Pepper in the last year, he didn't want to fuck things up with Hermione. He didn't want to mess the kids up. Because at least he could admit, he loved the kids.

"What in the world is going on out here?" he heard Hermione call from the back door of the house.

"Mummy! We're getting Tony with snowballs!" Hugo shouted.

"Oh, we are?" she said, slyly.

"Hey, be on my team, grown ups versus children!" Tony called from behind the tree.

"No, Mummy be on our team!" Rose called out.

"I'll be on everyone's team!" Hermione said.

And she was. She was an equal opportunity snow ball thrower. He laughed when he came around the tree and hit her in the face.

And then ran when she immediately had a snowball with his name on it.

She was waving her wand every few minutes, making sure the kids had a steady supply of snowballs of their own in order to make sure they could keep up with the adults.

By the time the sun was going down, they were all soaked and cold, and laughing so hard their ribs hurt. Eventually they made it into the house where Hermione made everyone grilled cheese and hot chocolate for supper. He said good night to the children, and he went to take a hot shower to warm up while Hermione went through the bed time routine.

And of course, when he came out of the shower, he had forgotten his shirt, just remembered to grab the flannel pajama bottoms he had purchased after his first day at Hermione's. He put them on and toweled off the rest of himself before opening the door and heading toward the guest room he was staying in. Except he didn't get very far before running into Hermione.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said.

"No, don't be, I wasn't paying attention," Tony said.

He looked down at Hermione, and noticed she was focused on his chest. More specifically the large blue glowing circle in the middle of his chest. He held his breath as she lifted her hand and placed it on his stomach, right below his Arc Reactor.

"That's my arc reactor," he said quietly.

"I had no idea it was inside you. I've seen your videos and photographs in your suit, and saw this. I've read your articles on creating it. Yet, I didn't know it was inside your body," Hermione said, quietly.

"It's not something I publicize too much, or else every bad guy would go right for it. The magnets inside help keep the bullet shrapnel still inside me away from my heart. It is literally keeping me alive."

Hermione ran her hand up his abs, and he sucked in a breath. She ran her fingers gently along the edge of the reactor. His cock immediately became hard.

"Does it hurt?" she asked. "It looks like it hurts."

He shook his head. "No, it doesn't," he said, his voice turning thick with arousal.

Hermione looked down then, and he tried his hardest to not look down and become embarrassed, because he knew his cotton pants were tented. Instead he grew bold. He reached out and put his hands on her hips and pulled her toward him. Because unless he was misreading all the signals she had been sending out over the last week, she was into him as much as he was into her. But she was scared. Scared of getting hurt again. Especially by a known playboy. And he didn't blame her. She had a traumatic experience with her ex.

Slowly, so as not to spook her, and to give her an out, he pulled her against his body, feeling his erection settle against her hips. She didn't pull away. He could feel her breathing begin to grow shallower, as she wrapped her own arms around his body. He bent down, capturing her lips with his own. She returned the kiss, and encouraged, he traced her lips with his tongue, begging for entrance. Which she granted.

She tasted amazing, and felt even better against his body. It had been a long time since he had felt the warmth and softness of a woman's body against his own. He couldn't help pushing his hard cock against her. They both groaned at the contact. Tony moved his hands from her hips and grabbed her ass, lifting her up from the ground. She immediately wrapped her legs around his waist, and he moved them so she was pushed against the wall. His cock lined up with her center perfectly and he pushed against her, causing them both to sigh and moan.

Hermione pulled away from the kiss. "Bed. I don't care which one, but I don't want my children to walk out and see us rutting like animals."

Tony didn't need to be told twice. He pulled them away from the wall, and marched into his room, kicking the door shut behind him.

~TS~

Two days later, and several rounds of mind blowing sex, Tony found himself kneeling in the entry way of the house, arms full of sobbing children. His suit was fixed, and he knew where he needed to go to take care of The Mandarin. He needed to leave and finish this. However, he was finding leaving to be very difficult. He had fallen in love with the Granger-Weasley's. And they him. And all he wanted to do was say fuck The Mandarin, but he couldn't. Not when he was a target. He couldn't put this family in harms way. He needed to get rid of The Mandarin, and then… Well, he wasn't sure. He didn't know where he would go from there. They hadn't discussed it. To make things worse, it was Christmas Eve.

"Please don't leave me, Tony," Hugo was crying into his shoulder.

"Do you not love us anymore, like our daddy?" Rose cried into his other.

"Hey," Tony said, pulling back slightly to look at their faces. He used the pad of his thumbs to dry the tears off their little faces. "I'm not like your daddy, okay, let's just make that clear. I'm Iron Man, right?"

The children nodded.

"Well, there's a really bad man out there who wants to hurt people. He's the reason why I fell from the sky. Now that my suit is fixed, I need to go defeat the bad man and get him into prison so that he can't hurt anyone else again."

"You need to be a superhero," Rose state, matter of factly.

"I need to be a superhero," Tony agreed. "Me having to leave right now doesn't mean I don't love you. I love all of you, very much, which doesn't seem possible since I've known you for not a very long time. Being a superhero means I'll have to leave every once in a while, but I'll come back. I promise," he said the last part, looking into Hermione's eyes.

He gave the kids one more hug and kiss each, before standing up and embracing Hermione.

"Please be safe, even if you decide not to come back, be safe," she whispered into his neck.

"I'll be back," Tony whispered back. "I don't make empty promises, especially to children."

He gave her one more kiss before, stepping backwards into his suit, stepping out the open door and taking off to where The Mandarin was located.

~TS~

He returned on New Year's Day. He had defeated The Mandarin, and blew up almost all of his suits. But, as he walked up the driveway to the Granger-Weasley home, he didn't seem to care. He had loaded his car up with most of the stuff he cared about. The one surviving suit, some clothes, a few family knick knacks, some tech from his lab he couldn't live without, and drove to Tennessee. The winter weather slowed him down a bit, but he got there as soon as possible.

He didn't even make it all the way to the house before he saw two streaks of red come running toward him. He immediately dropped to the ground and held his arms open for Rose and Hugo to run into. He wrapped them in a hug and held them to him tightly. There were moments during the battle that he wasn't sure he was going to be able to keep his promise, but of no fault of his own. Being able to see them, to hold them, he felt so grateful.

"You came back!" Rose cried.

"Just like you promised!" Hugo shouted.

"Of course I did! I couldn't stay away from you guys for long, you know I love you."

He looked up to see Hermione come up behind the kids, eyes filled with unshed tears.

"It's good to see you again, Tony," Hermione said, her voice thick with emotion.

"Yeah, you too. I hope you don't mind, but I brought a few of my things this time."

"That's fine. Maybe the guest room can be turned into your lab for a while," she suggested.

"That sounds like a great idea," Tony said. "Did you change your mind about that really good lawyer I offered to hire?"

"I did," Hermione said. "I think it may be needed."

"Good," Tony said, looking down at the kids in his arms. "Because we'll need it if we ever want to make ourselves an official family."

Tony looked back up at Hermione and smiled. She returned it.

"So," he said, addressing the kids. "Since I missed Christmas, I have a few presents with your names on them in the car. What do you say? Should we have second Christmas?"

The kids cheered and ran toward the house, and Hermione came over to help him up from the ground. As soon as he was up, he wrapped her into his arms and gave her a kiss. When he pulled back, he pressed his forehead to hers.

"I love you," she said, quietly. "I realized after you left, that I never told you, because I was scared. But the whole time you were gone, I worried about you, and I was distraught over the fact that I may not have a chance to tell you. But I do. I shouldn't, we've only known each other a week, but I don't know, I just do. And I wanted to let you know that."

"I love you, too. I know I never told you directly and straight out, but I do. I love you and your kids, and if you let me, I would love to be a part of your family. Forever."

"I would like that, very much," Hermione said.

They kissed again before pulling away and walking hand in hand to retrieve the kids' presents from the car.

Tony didn't know what the future of Iron Man or the Avengers would be, but at the moment he didn't seem to care. He had the only future he truly cared about right there with him.

 **So, I do have a little follow up to this story, I can't cross post here until January, but it's on my AO3, same penname, the title is Domestic Bliss, Christmas Wish. Please review.**


End file.
